LiveWorld Transcripts

HBO presents

Armen Keteyian
"Real Sports"

June 14, 2000

HBO presents Real Sports Chat with author Armen Keteyian who discusses issues concerning sports, baseball, the NBA, and sports reports.

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HBO-RealSports: Hello, sports fans, and welcome to HBO.com's Real Sports chat with Armen Keteyian. Armen won a Sports Emmy in April 1998 for his piece on the public funding of baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks. He is also an accomplished author, with seven books to his credit, and he currently has a piece about Spencer Haywood that is airing on the June episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. Welcome, Armen. Let's start the chat.

Armen Keteyian: Thank you for joining me on HBO's Real Sports inaugural flight into cyber space. I feel the Spencer Haywood story is both historic and courageous, particularly now during the middle of the NBA Finals, and 30 years after he paved the way to the riches of so many NBA Superstars.

Dawn: When you first approach a story, do you try to map out the sequence and angle of it, or do you just dive in head first and try to use the material you come up with?

Armen Keteyian: It's a combination of absorbing as much background material as possible to allow for the most intelligent interview. The interview then dictates the direction of the piece.

Noah: What do you think is the most important aspect of a sports report? Is there anything in specific that you think must be covered in order for it to be complete?

Armen Keteyian: The most important aspect of any report, regardless of length, is fairness and accuracy. I try to put the perspective of twenty years' worth of sports reporting into my pieces. Minus that, try to tell the best "story" you can from the perspective of the person telling it.

Weiss: What about your Emmy-winning Arizona report do you think made it stand out so much? What about it did you like the most?

Armen Keteyian: What I liked the most about the Arizona Diamondbacks report was I was, in many respects, acting on behalf of the tax payers of Maricopa County who were funding the stadium to a large degree. My most favorite moment was quizzing Jerry Colangelo on how much money he stood to make on the project, having the partnership agreement in my hand. A very hard document to get my hands on.

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